New Year Approaches
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: On December 31st, as the New Year approaches, the Blacks, Lestranges, Malfoys and others try to put their affairs of the last year in order. Written for Addicted-To-Sugar-Quills' Happy New Year Competition on the HPFC forum.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Written for Addicted-To-Sugar-Quills' Happy New Year Competition on the HPFC forum. Eleven interconnected drabbles.

Enjoy, and happy (slightly early) New Year!

)O(

Bellatrix stormed into the dining room, glaring at Rodolphus. "You're supposed to be overseeing the house elves! How is any cleaning going to get done when they're left alone?"

Rodolphus looked up, and scowled as well. "You're one to talk. I don't see you doing anything."

"I don't have to! And you'll do what I say unless you want me bringing up that little matter with Narcissa at the dinner party tonight…"

Rodolphus's eyes narrowed. "You do, and I bring up the Dark Lord."

Bellatrix sneered. "You have nothing to hold over my head. I'm honoured to bed the Dark Lord–"

"Oh, shut it," Rodolphus grumbled, looking away.

"You shut it, and go help the House elves clean! People will be here for the New Year's party at ten o'clock, and I swear to God, if this house is a mess then–"

"It's barely noon!"

"We have a large manor."

"But–"

Bellatrix gave Rodolphus such a glare that he felt himself physically shrinking. He swallowed. "All right, fine," he mumbled.

He slouched out of the room, making his way down to the ballroom.

_Bitch_, he thought bitterly. _Wish I could divorce her…_

It had been a long, bitter ten months since their marriage. Ten months, punctuated by accusations of adultery by both of them, by fights that could be heard all across the manor, by long nights when Rodolphus slipped into his sister-in-law's bed for comfort and even longer ones when – he knew all too well – Bellatrix slipped into the Dark Lord's.

Did he really wish they could divorce?

He pondered the question while he ordered the house elves around.

Oh, he hated her at times. Many, many times. But for all that, every time he saw her he managed to remember – at least, in some small way – that he loved her.

No, he decided at last. No, he was glad he was stuck with her.

Perhaps the next year would be better.


	2. Chapter 2

Narcissa sat at her vanity and applied make up. She didn't need it, she knew, but she wanted it. It made a mask, and Narcissa liked wearing a mask.

"Are you not done yet?" Lucius drawled from the doorway. Narcissa glanced at his reflection in the window, and shook her head.

"You've been at it for an hour and a half. You look beautiful."

"No I don't," Narcissa said flatly, dipping her brush into a pot of powder and brushing it over her cheeks, turning them an even paler shade.

"Yes you do. What are you on about?"

Narcissa did not answer. She just sighed as she painted her face, until her own flesh scarcely showed through. At last, when the face she had painted on didn't even resemble her own, she turned to Lucius.

"I'm finished now," she said softly.

"You look about nine years old," Lucius told her.

"I know."

Narcissa did not meet her husband's eyes as she rose and took his arm, letting him lead her out of her chamber.


	3. Chapter 3

Rabastan trudged through the snow, his head bent against the icy wind. In hindsight, it had been a mistake to walk to his brother's manor. Much as he disliked the discomfort of apparition or floo powder, it would have been preferable to walking the better part of eight miles in the snow.

"Rab!"

He lifted his head, startled by the familiar female voice, and turned around.

Running through the snow, her cloak streaming behind her, hood down and hair wild, heavy skirts picked up so she could run faster, was Andromeda.

The walk was suddenly worth every second of discomfort.

"Andromeda," he greeted her warmly as she struggled through a particularly deep snowdrift to his side. "It's been too long."

She nodded in agreement. Her pretty, soft face was flushed with the cold. "Did you have a happy Christmas?"

"Yes," he said, nodding. "Did you?"

"It was all right. I would have preferred if I could have spent it with you…"

"You flatter me," he murmured, feeling a flush rise in his own cheeks.

Andromeda seemed unfazed by this. "No, I am quite honest when I say it. Christmas is not so pleasant without you." She paused. "I miss the days when you and Rodolphus used to come over for Christmas dinner…"

"I do not. Those dinners were excruciating."

She laughed. "They were, rather, weren't they? But they were worth it, because I got to see you." She looped her arm through his, pulling him a little more quickly through the snow than he had been going before. "How many years has it been since one of those parties now?"

"Eight."

"Eight? That seems forever…" She sighed. "Ah, well, we still get to see each other at New Years, don't we?"

"Yes," Rabastan agreed, and he found himself smiling as the two of them walked towards Rodolphus and Bellatrix's manor.


	4. Chapter 4

Guests were arriving in a flurry now, shaking snow from their cloaks and nodding to each other. Bellatrix stood beside the door, playing – for a few hours, at least – the proper housewife. She had a forced smile on her face, and seemed moments from snapping.

The front door open, and a cluster of seven people entered, all smiling and laughing.

"You can put your cloaks in the closet, there," Bellatrix told them, looking bored. They quickly pulled the cloaks off – all but one.

"Oy," Bellatrix said, "cloak. Off. You'll get too hot if you leave it on."

"That's all right," he mumbled. His voice seemed vaguely familiar, and it inspired a strange, visceral disgust in Bellatrix.

"This is my home," she snapped, "and you shall take off your cloak if I tell you to!"

He hesitated, then slowly turned to face her, lowering his hood.

"_Ted…_" Bellatrix's eyes narrowed to slits and she balled her hands into fists. "What the _Hell_ are you doing here?"

"Bellatrix…" Ted Tonks' soft face was the picture of nervousness. "I- just wanted to see you…"

"Wanted to see me! Get out of my home, Mudblood!" She slapped him across the face. "I want nothing to do with you!"

He drew back. "But- but Bella-"

"My name is Bella_trix!_"

"Bellatrix- don't you remember- we used to be friends!"

She slapped him again. "Yes… when we were _seventeen_! That was a while ago! I've learned since then! Now get out!"

Ted turned and fled, pushing past Andromeda and Rabastan, who were on their way in.

"What was that?" Andromeda asked, frowning a little.

"Nothing," said Bellatrix, once again calm and composed.


	5. Chapter 5

Rabastan had barely come in the door when Rodolphus caught his arm and pulled him away from Andromeda, down a corridor into a little-used bedroom and shut the door.

"What–" Rabastan began, but he was cut off when Rodolphus pressed his mouth over his. Rabastan let out a muffled noise of surprise and pulled back, shocked.

"Rod?"

"Last year," Rodolphus whispered, "on New Years, I promised myself that before next year…" His fingers travelled down his brother's chest, pulling on the buttons of his shirt. "I would–"

Rabastan slapped his hands away and stepped back, shock and horror and something else mingling on his face. "Rodolphus!"

"What?" Rodolphus asked.

"We can't do this! You can't just- just seduce me!"

"Yes we can. And I'm not seducing you. Seducing implies me misleading you–"

"No, we can't. We'll look back on this and we'll be- ashamed," Rabastan whispered.

"You don't have to be ashamed. Honestly, if it bothers you so much, you can just blame me when you look back at it. You can pretend it's all my fault." Rodolphus pressed his brother tight against the wall, hands on his chest once again.

"But–" Rabastan's voice shook, "It's not that. It's– I want to… and that's what I'm going to be ashamed of… I'm not supposed to– we aren't– we're supposed to be pure, and look at us…"

Rodolphus shook his head, running his hand down Rabastan's back. "I don't understand. What could be more pure than this? It's not as though we'd be bedding _Mudbloods_ or some such thing…"

Rabastan bit his lip. "We are brothers…"

"Our parents are cousins. There is no shame in them marrying, so why should there be in us–"

Rabastan turned his head away. "There just is. It's wrong," he whispered.

"I don't care," was Rodolphus's response, and he turned Rabastan's head back to his, and pressed his lips hard against his brother's.


	6. Chapter 6

Molly and Arthur had been curled on their couch, Molly's hand upon the swell of her stomach, when they heard a knock on the door. Molly looked up, then gave her husband a pointed, _go get the door_ look. Arthur sighed, and stood to open it.

"Ted!" he said jovially when he saw who was there. "How have you been?"

Ted Tonks shrugged a little. "I've been better. But, then, I've also been worse." He looked at Molly. "You look absolutely lovely, Molly."

"Why, thank you," Molly beamed, rubbing her belly. "Five months pregnant, now…"

"Five? You hardly look more than three," Ted said, making Molly laugh a little.

"Oh, go on!" she chuckled, heaving herself to her feet and bustling towards the kitchen. "Now, I've got some leftover fruitcake here somewhere… would you like some, Ted?"

Ted nodded and smiled and took the fruitcake, sitting down with the Weasleys to eat it. They looked so happy together, he reflected – practically glowing with familial joy. Arthur's arm around Molly's shoulder, her hand on the baby growing inside her…

Ted poked gently at the fruitcake, sighing. He wished he could have something like this. But, of course, he couldn't.

That was just how things were when the woman you loved was so far out of your reach.


	7. Chapter 7

Lily Evans entered the Burrow in a whirl, cheeks pink from the wind, hair wild and dotted with snow. "I'm here, Molly, Arthur!"

Ted looked up from his seat at the Weasleys' kitchen table and saw her. And just behind her – Lord, was that James Potter? What was he doing with Lily?

"I hope you don't mind I've brought James along," Lily said brightly. "He wanted to come with me, and I thought it rude to turn him down, and after all, the more the merrier, isn't that right? And it's not as if four people–"

"Five," Ted put in, bitterness tingeing his voice.

"Pardon?"

"I'm here. Five people."

"Oh…" Lily glanced at James, then at Ted, then Molly and Arthur. "Well, five people, then–"

"Oh, no," Ted said sarcastically. "Four. Don't let me split up your perfect dream-couple happiness." He stood up and started for the door. "I'll just go back to the Lestranges, then."

"Ted–" James caught his arm. "You shouldn't be alone on New Years."

Ted hesitated for a moment, then shook him off.

"Don't bother," he told him. "I'd be alone anyway, even with you four." Then he turned and stamped out.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where's Rodolphus?" Bellatrix asked of her sister. Narcissa was sitting at the back of the ballroom, staring off into the distance.

"I don't know," was Narcissa's quiet response.

"You haven't seen him, then?"

"Not since I came in, no."

"Good," Bellatrix said. She turned away quickly didn't cast so much as a glance at Narcissa as she picked up her skirts and hurried off.

Bellatrix stepped out onto the balcony that overlooked the gardens of Lestrange Manor, drawing the curtains and locking the doors behind her so no one could interrupt, then looked at the man who had been waiting for her.

"My Lord," she murmured, dropping into a curtsey.

"Bellatrix."

He had his hood up, obscuring his face in shadow, but Bellatrix could see his eyes glittering deep red beneath it. Her heart sped at the very sight of him.

"I- I am glad you attended the party, my Lord," she murmured. "Honoured."

"It is a lovely affair," he told her. His voice was soft and smooth and cool, and Bellatrix's knees seemed to weaken when she heard it. _Stop it, Bella, this behaviour is ridiculous._

"My Lord," she said breathlessly, "My husband is… no one seems to know where he is. We have… privacy here, we… we can be alone…" She could not speak properly, she wanted him so very, very much.

"We are never alone, Bellatrix," he told her.

"My Lord?"

"Never alone…" He looked out over the gardens, turning away from her.

"But… surely it is just you and I who are here…"

"No," he said. "There are three of us. You are here, and I am here…" He turned back to her. "And the night is here with us as well. The night," he added, moving close to her, "is the witness… to whatever shall happen between us…"


	9. Chapter 9

Alice and Frank Longbottom were not at a party, nor were they were not at a cosy family gathering. They never needed it. Each other's company was all that they required.

It was so difficult to find time to be alone together, Alice reflected as she leaned her head on her husband's shoulder, watching the fire crackling in the fireplace, when both partners in a marriage were perpetually in terrible danger, as she and Frank so often were. It was easy, when one was hunting down Death Eaters, to forget how pleasant it was to just… sit and enjoy the company of the one you loved.

"Frank?"

"Yes, what is it, Alice?" Frank's voice was gentle, almost dreamy.

"This is ever so nice."

"What is?"

"This…" She gestured around at their home. "Just the two of us… being together."

His arm moved to rest over her shoulders.

"Yes, Alice," he said softly. "Yes, it is."


	10. Chapter 10

With everyone else swaying around the floors in the ballroom, or closeted in bedrooms with lovers, or passed out drunk on couches, Regulus found it quite easy to avoid people who might try to engage him in conversation and get out into the gardens.

She was waiting there.

It was difficult, Regulus thought, as he looked at her, not to think of her in poetic terms – chestnut curls, alabaster skin, wine-coloured cloak. Marlene was too beautiful for common terms like "brown", "pale" or "red".

"Regulus."

Her voice was calm and clear, cutting through the night sharply.

"Marlene." Regulus approached her, picking his way through the snow, and reached out to embrace her, but she pushed him back.

"I don't have time for that," she told him. "I only have one hour before I'm supposed to be at my brother's New Year's party. But I thought I ought to tell you…"

"Tell me what?"

"That the Ministry found a new source of information. They're rounding up anyone this person even _thinks_ could be a Death Eater and bringing them in for questioning. Thought I should tell you so you'd be prepared."

"Marlene, I–"

"Don't say anything," Marlene told him. "I just thought… it wouldn't be right to find this out and not tell you."

"Th- thank you."

Marlene didn't say another word, just turned and trudged away, leaving Regulus looking at the tiny dot of colour of her cloak in the snow.

Marlene was the one person he knew who would put his safety over her own.

Perhaps that was why it stung so badly that she would never love him as he did her.


	11. Epilogue

_Twenty-three years later_

Twenty-three years later, there were no more Lestranges – no more Blacks, even – to inherit the Manor. The gardens were no longer places for midnight trysts with danger, the bedrooms no longer havens for romances that should not have happened. People no longer stood out on the balcony to kiss their lovers under the watch of the night. Scorned admirers were no longer sent away in tears.

The Manor was not empty, though.

Draco Malfoy, to whom the Manor had been left, sat upon the balcony that New Year's Eve. He looked out over the grounds, wondering vaguely about the stories that the Manor had held in the past.

A footstep sounded behind him, and he turned around to see Luna, pale hair fluttering in the night breeze, looking at him.

"You'll get cold sitting out here," she told him dreamily, looking around. "And I hope you're being careful to avoid the nargles in the mistletoe."

"I am," he told her, finding himself smiling.

Luna closed the glass doors of the balcony behind her and sat next to him, smiling serenely. "It was ever so kind of you to invite me here for the holidays."

Draco said nothing, only took Luna's hand lightly in his. The two of them stared out over the grounds, not needing to say anything. Their thoughts were easy enough to hear.

_Happy New Year._


End file.
